"Two roads diverged in a yellow wood, and sorry I could not travel both. And be one traveler, long I stood and looked down one as far as I could, to where it bent in the undergrowth." Tsuki had known that poem since she could remember. It was Robert Frost, a famous poet, who'd written those words. She felt that that particular poem suited her now better than it ever had before.

"Whatcha doin'?" Minuka, one of the girls in Tsuki's group, asked from behind. Tsuki turned to see Minuka standing right next to her and started. She didn't think she was that close!

"Huh? Huh? What is that?" Minuka asked again, pointing to the picture Tsuki had been drawing. It was a big tree with lots of branches, some thick and heavy, others skinny and frail. It had deep roots that went down into the soil.

Gathering her thoughts, Tsuki turned back to the drawing. "It's my family tree. See? I'm going to add all the ancestors and family members to the branches." She pointed to the larger branches. "The smaller parts of the tree are going to be the descendants of my family."

"Ooh, so cool! I want one of those!" Minuka cooed. Tsuki gave a small laugh. She'd known about Minuka's childish vibe, but she didn't know it was to this extent. The squad meeting that Shino had called everyone together for was just about over and people wee pretty much just sitting around and talking. In the Beginner's class, she had only heard four names in her Squadron, but there were actually nine members in total: Noma and Roma, who were sisters, Shino, a guy named Teshoka, Minuka, Shizuo and Hakari (who were best friends and a potential couple), a quiet, mousy kind of girl named Morima, and Tsuki.

As people were starting to file out the door to go to their last class of the day, Shino found Tsuki putting all her papers into her trapper-folder and putting that into her book bag. Feeling someone behind her, Tsuki turned around and stifled a gasp. There he was again, in all his handsomeness, standing so close to her. She fought the urge to run her hands through his amazing dark brown hair and focused on not dropping her stuff instead.

Shino smiled. "Hey, you need some help with that? I don't have anything to carry." He gestured to her overloaded backpack.

"Um, sure," Tsuki said, letting him take it and sling it over his shoulder. "Thanks for the help."

"Notta problem," Shino said with a widening grin. The two of them began walking across campus. Tsuki wondered where Shino went for seventh period, but didn't really have the nerve to ask.

After a moment or so, Shino spoke up. "So, what's your final class of the day? I'd kinda like to know where we should be headed."

Tsuki thought about it for a minute. "Actually, I think it's Spell Performance, or something like that. . ." She sighed, still not having her schedule quite memorize yet. She started to pull the folded-up paper out of her pocket, but Shino put his hand on hers to stop her.

"I think what you mean is Spell Techniques and Performance." Their eyes locked and Tsuki blushed with his hand on hers. It took her a while to notice that they had both stopped walking and their fingers were entwined in each other. Leaning down, Shino hit Tsuki with a full-on kiss. Caught off guard, Tsuki jumped back in surprise. Shino let go of her hand.

"I'm. . . I'm sorry," Shino said akwardly, scratching the back of his head. "I shouldn't have done that. It's just--" And that was all it took. Tsuki cut him off, wrapping her arms around him and enveloping him in a deep, passionate kiss. He responded by putting one hand on her waist and the other around her neck. After a few minutes of make-out session, they finally remembered where they were. Slowly, they untangled themselves from each other, both short of breath.

Panting, Tsuki asked, "Where. . . did that. . . come from?"

Shaking his head and breathing heavy, Shino said, "I'm not. . . sure." Tsuki caught her breath and waited for Shino to do the same, and then he finished walking her to her class, hand in hand once more.

As Tsuki sat in her seventh period, she spent half of her time taking notes and listening to Mr. Arata talk about making wands and the other half of her time daydreaming. While she sat there, she also wondered a few things: Why would Shino pick her, of all girls? And was he just using her for some unknown purpose? That seemed pretty unlikely. Still though, a small voice in the back of her head kept her wary with a little bit of suspicion. What if that small voice was right? But even if it was right, she couldn't just abandon him now; she was in too deep for that, after she'd done what she'd done earlier. Sigh. There were many things to be considered in this kind of situation. Again, Tsuki heard the poem's words in her head like lyrics to a song-- "I shall be telling this with a sigh, somewhere ages and ages hence: two roads diverged in a wood, and I, took the one less traveled by, and that has made all the difference."

~~~

He sat on one of the highest branches in the tree, his black, not-quite shoulder-length hair blowing in the breeze along with the leaves. Clouds were forming-- he sensed that a storm was coming. He also sensed that this was caused by a witch. He hated witches with a passion; witches had killed his grandfather. His grandfather had been the only one left besides himself after his parents got killed in that war. That had involved witches too. Therefore, he hated witches, with a passion. But there was something else. . . a neko. And a descendant of the Minami clan. Filled with a new motivation for vengeance, he hopped from tree to tree, headed to where he knew the sources of this newly-ignited hatred would be-- Westeria Academy for Witches and Wizards.

Exercise summary

Wisteria Academy is a posh boarding school for the magically gifted, with a rich history and an excellent extracurricular program. However, there is a darkness that looms on the horizon - and four young witches will have to meet it.

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